William bubnet



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VV'ILLIAM BURNET, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

PAPER-FILE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 45,813. dated January10, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVM. BURNET, of the city, county, and State ot' NewYork, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Files. Inorder that others skilled may understand the method of construction, Ihereby declare the following to be an exact description thereof,illustrated by the accompanying drawings, and referred to in thisschedule by the letters and tigures marked thereon.

In the drawings, Figure l is a top view of the paper-tile with all theparts together. A A is a thin board, which forms the base ot' the tile;B B a smaller piece lying directly upon it, and in this view is supposedto be transparent, in order that the other parts may be seen. G C is thehinge-bar, lying in a groove in the base of the tile, and in another inthe top piece, cut directly across each. The een` ter portion of thehinge-bar is bent into a crank form, upon which the spring D constantlypresses. This springis madeeitherof brass or steel, and is riveted atone end to the base piece and vibratesin a slot cut through it.(ShowninFig.2,insectionatd.) Theeudot'the spring is narrowed at itspoint, to t'all into the crank, and is curved on its extreme end into ahook, so that when the upper leat' is thrown up to its full extent itmay be held in place. The hinge-bar is confined tothe two leaves bymeans of staples or headed rivets.

Fig. 2 shows in longitudinal section the relative position ot' the partsabove described, lettered in the same manner as Fig. l.

Operation It will be seen from the drawings that the hinge bar connectsthe two leaves, as by a hinge which turns on two centers, and that thepressure of the spring always throws the leaves together; hence in useit is only necessary to raise the upper leaf sufficiently to slip in thedocketed paper, and it is secured, and so on till the tile is tilled toits capaci t v.

Any paper may be withdrawn by raising the upper leat' and taking out thepaper. Closing the lea-t' secures the remainder.

I do not contine myself to the exact proportion ofthe parts as shown, asthe upper leat' may be made ofthe same extent as the lower one. Neitherdo l confine myself to the exact position of the parts. Forinstance, thespring and cranked portion ofthe hinge bar may be placed in the upperleaf, instead of the base, or the parts may be doubled, with one springin the base and another in the top; and, again, the spring may be madeof a stit't'continuous rubber band laid in the groove and fastened atits end by a pin passing' through it, and the other put upon the crank.The leaves also maybe made of tin, sheetiron, or book-binders board.

I am aware that tiles vhave been made for holding docketed papers, aswith two leaves secured by elastic bands, with ajoint in the upper leaf,which turns back to show the record on the paper, &c.; but I know ofnone which secures the results so simply as mine. Therefore, while I donot claim, broadly, the confining papers by means ot' spring-pressure, Ido claim- A A tile made of two leaves secured together by a hin ge-bar,and kept together by means ot' vspring pressure thereon, all made andoperating substantially as above described, or their mechanicalequivalents.

WILLIAM BURNET. Witnesses:

STURGIS M. MoREnoUsE, W. H. FULLER.

